Happy 2nd week of February! It’s a jam-packed week of sports among other things!

There is tutoring on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. There aren’t many weeks left of tutoring, so make sure your student is taking full advantage of the extra tutoring time if needed.

On Tuesday, February 12, Seward will head to Kenai to play Volleyball here at KMS. KMS “C” team will start us off with the first game @ 3PM. The KMS “B” team will follow, KMS 7th grade team will follow them.

There is a Site Council meeting at 5:15 on Wednesday, February 13th. We also resume Clubs on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Valentine’s Day, there will be more Volleyball action. We will play Skyview here at KMS. KMS “B” team will start us off at 3pm. KMS 7 will play Skyview 8 after that, and KMS 8 will play Skyview 7 for the last game of the night.

Friday, February 15th Cross Country Skiers will compete @ Homer. The first race begins at 4PM.

Volleyball continues today with games against Nikiski. KMS “C” team will start at 3PM, KMS “B” team will follow, and KMS 7will follow them.

KMS 8 will head to Seward for a game there starting @ 3PM.

Safe travels to all!

On Saturday, KMS Wrestlers head to Seward for the Seward Take Down Tournament. The meet begins @ 11AM.

GoKOSSACKS!

Nikiski North Star Elementary

NNS is celebrating Love of Reading during the month of February. As part of our school celebration we participate in One School, One Book. This year’s book is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Every student was given a copy of the book at conferences so that they can read the book together at home with their family. Students will get to answer trivia questions each morning with a chance to win prizes.

The NNS school forensics meet will be held on Thursday, February 14th at 9:00 in the school library.

Please check the lost and found for missing items. All lost and found will be donated to charity on the 1st and 15th of each month. If you have any questions, please call the school office at 776-2600.

Soldotna High

The next PTSA meeting will be Tuesday, February 12, at 5:30pm in the SoHi staff lounge. Snacks will be provided.

The next Parents of Juniors After-Prom planning meeting will be Monday, February 18, at 5pm in the SoHi staff lounge.

The afterschool tutoring buses will start running on 8/28. There are 2 buses that leave at 4:15. You must be on the route list to ride the bus. See Ms. Wear in the library to find out more information and/or get on the bus list. You can also email her at twear@kpbsd.k12.ak.us or call 260-7036.

Soldotna Stars Letterman Jackets are available to order at www.neffco.com. Click on Varsity Jackets, find our school by State, select Soldotna High School, starting at $149 you can personalize it anyway you would like. Makes a great Christmas gift!

There are two ways to order a transcript. Each way serves a different purpose.

If you need a transcript sent to a college or NCAA or a similar agency, then you will need to log on to: www.parchment.com to order transcripts to be sent. The request is then forwarded to SoHi. After processing, it then goes through cyberspace… rather than the US mail… to get to its destination, which is much faster! ALL transcripts that are headed for NCAA, colleges, etc. have to be processed this way!

FINAL TRANSCRIPTS! A final transcript is one that shows your second semester grades… If you order your transcript when we are IN second semester, you will need to make sure you choose “next grading period” when you go on to Parchment… that way your transcript request will wait until the grades are in at the end of the year before it is sent.

Redoubt Elementary

On February 1st we started are One School One Book program. Every family received a copy of Mr. Popper’s Penguin’s with a reading schedule. Please follow the reading schedule provided and there will prizes and activities throughout the month to win by answering our daily trivia questions.

PTA meeting will be Feb 12th @3:45 in the teachers’ lounge, we are always looking for new members to attend.

Our Forensics competition will be on February 20th and 21st all day in the library, visitors are welcome to watch our kiddos perform!

KPBSD’s budget meeting will be happening February 20th at Soldotna High School, all are welcome to attend.

On February 26th we are having our site council meeting @ 3:45 in the teachers’ lounge.

February 27th we will be having our annual Spelling Bee @9:30 in the gym, families are welcome to attend and watch.

Pre- K forms are available in our office, applicants must be 4 years old on or before September 1st, 2019, and must be within our attendance area. Screenings will be held in April.

Pre-enrollment forms (pink) went home recently. Please take the time to fill out the form and let us know that your child(ren) will be attending Redoubt next year.

We will be having our Redoubt Carnival on February 23rd from noon to 4 pm, our PTA is looking for parent and student volunteers and accepting donations for the carnival.

To show appreciation this month to local law enforcement, Soldotna Elementary

students made cards/ posters, and a survival kit to present to the Troopers/ Officers. The Troopers also taught a community safety lesson to the 4th grade classes. Soldotna Elementary staff and students are very thankful for local Troopers and Police Officers.

Congratulations to the 2018-19 Soldotna Elementary Battle of the Books Teams. Students worked extremely hard this year to prepare for competition. The 3/4th grade team, coached by Anna Simmons, was Aidan Hunt, Viktoriia Lukanina, Valarie McAnelly, Rebekah Pieh and Ashley Simmons. The 5/6th grade team, coached by Erin Eveland, was Elias Bouschor, Alexis Cole, Jaeden Randall and Alexis Simmons. The 5/6th grade team placed 2nd in District Competition!

Soldotna Elementary is currently accepting applications for its 2019-2020 Title 1 Pre-K program. Students must be 4 years old by September 01, 2019 and live in the Soldotna Elementary boundary. Applications are located at the front office.

Mountain View Elementary

Artist Shala Dobson will be visiting Mountain View for the week of February 18th-22nd to work with Pre-K through 2nd grade students to help them create their own books. Parents are invited to come to their child’s class when the artist is present and learn techniques to use at home with their students to create books. What better way to promote reading and writing then to create your own book! Shala will also host a family night, Thursday, February 21st, to accommodate parents who cannot make it to school during the day. Teachers will be sending more information home with students this week.

To celebrate “Love of Reading” month, Mountain View Elementary will be hosting community readers on Thursday, February 21. If you would like to volunteer to read to students, please call Mountain View Elementary at 283-8600. Volunteers need to pass a background check through the school district.

Great job to the Battle of the Books team that participated in the district-wide competition on Monday, February 4! Members included: Staff/Teacher – Shanna Johnson and students – Bailey Conner, Anna Gilliam, Jolene Riske, Kael Aamodt and Trenten Dooley Gilliam.

The spring semester membership drive for the Panther Student Council is open NOW. Member contracts are available outside Mrs. Pothast’s classroom door and are DUE back to her by Wednesday, February 13. These contracts are only necessary for NEW members, not those already a part of Student Council. Please see Mrs. Pothast with any questions. Thank you!

The Panther Student Council group photo for the yearbook will be taken on Wednesday, February 20 during FOL in the Choir Room. That FOL is open now – members please sign up to attend!

KPBSD Budget Meeting – The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District requests input from staff, parents, and community members at the districtwide KPBSD budget development meeting, scheduled at the following locations: • Tuesday, February 19, 2019 @ 6:00 pm in the Homer High School Library • Wednesday, February 20, 2019 @ 6:00 pm in the Soldotna High School Library • Thursday, February 21, 2019 @ 6:00 pm in the Kenai Central High School Library •Tuesday, February 26, 2019 @ 6:00 pm in the Seward High School Library. As new budget information becomes available, it will be posted on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Website. If you have any questions, please call Natalie Bates at 714-8888.

Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science

February 11, 2019

Accepting Lottery Applications for the 2019-2020 school year, deadline for applications is 4:00 p.m. on March 1st. Interested in Kaleidoscope for your K-5th grader and want to learn more? Please join us for our school tours every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in February or our Kaleidoscope Parent Information Meeting on Tuesday, February 19th at 5:30 p.m.

Re-enrollment forms are due February 15th by 4:00 p.m. Every student must have a completed form turned in to the office to hold their place for next year. If your child is not returning, even if they have aged out of the school, please fill out the back of the form so we know where they will be attending in order to send their records when it’s time.

The Life Skill we are focusing on this week is Pride – Satisfaction from doing one’s personal best.

March 22 – Spring Pictures *Only students that have prepaid packets will have pictures taken. Younger siblings can come in and have pictures taken from 12-1.

Volunteers

Volunteers are welcome any time at Kaleidoscope! Background checks and Volunteer Training are required for each school year to be an approved volunteer. Go to http://kaleidoscope.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/volunteers for the 2 links. Background checks may take up to 2 weeks to be processed. Volunteer Indemnification forms are to be completed 2 days before each study trip.

Do you like computer programming? Are you or your child interested in a fun, engaging, hands-on & educational robotics program? The Soldotna office is looking to start a parent led robotics club for grades 5th-8th. If this sounds like something you and/or your child would like to participate in please contact Mark Wackler: mwackler@kpbsd.org . We look forward to this exciting and challenging opportunity!

Iditaread Starts March 1st:

Our annual Iditaread program starts March 1st! So get out your favorite books or those you haven’t read yet and start keeping track of your reading minutes. When you’ve read your way to Nome and crossed the finish line, see your Connections Office for a prize! If you have any questions, please call the Connections office (714-8880) or email:cnolden@kpbsd.org for more information and how to log onto the Iditarod Insider. Happy reading and MUSH ON!

NEW: Soldotna Office – Free Tutoring:

Soldotna Office – Free Tutoring:

Connections is very excited to have Sara Hadfield and Rebecca Weaver, from the Kenai Peninsula College, at the Soldotna office every week to offer free tutoring to our families.

Sara specializes in English as a Second Language (ESL) and language arts. Her schedule will be Wednesdays from 1:30-3:00pm starting Wednesday, February 13th.

Rebecca specializes in a variety of subjects: math, physics, chemistry and science. Her schedule is Thursdays from 11:00am to 2:00pm.

If you are a parent or a student that needs help in any of these areas, please call our office at 714-8880 to schedule an appointment.

Soldotna Office: Connections Science Fair:

The Connections Science Fair is open to all Connections students, and is a non-competitive opportunity for students to explore a science related topic, create a display, and show off their display in the Connections office. Please contact Mark Wackler (mwackler@kpbsd.org) for more resources to help with your project.

Salmon Dissection @ Soldotna Office:

February 13th @ 1:30pm ADF&G will be leading a salmon dissection for Connections homeschool students at the Soldotna office. All ages are welcome to participate. Please RSVP for this by emailing Mark Wackler at mwackler@kpbsd.org

Soldotna Office: Thursday Art Share:

The Soldotna office is celebrating student art, grades K-12, every month! Paintings, drawings, ceramics, photography, digital art, etc… all are welcome and encouraged! Submissions can be dropped off anytime during the month, an art activity will start promptly at 3:15 on the Art Share day, see below for dates.

Our art share in February will be Thursday, February 7th from 3-4pm and the theme is: winter animals!

March: Spring theme! Thursday, March 7th from 3-4pm

April: Green Earth theme! Thursday, April 4th from 3-4pm.

**please note: any and all submissions are welcome regardless of theme**

2019 Homeschool Talent Show:

The 2019 Homeschool Talent Show will be on Tuesday, April 30th from 5-6:30pm at the Soldotna High School Auditorium. Connections is looking for homeschool students to join the show and display their talents (singing, instrumental, art, skits, whatever!). Talents of all types and ability levels are encouraged and there will also be an art display at the entrance to show off Connections student’s artistic abilities as well. Please contact Mark Wackler at the Soldotna Connections office if you are interested in participating in the talent show, or to get more info –mwackler@kpbsd.org